Hoffer on Power and Weakness*

I've been reviewing a lot of my old blog posts, and finding many that remain perfectly applicable to our current condition. One of them dates back to June of 2012, and totally hits the mark today, twelve years later.  

Eric Hoffer, the self-educated "Longshoreman Philosopher," is one of my favorite authors. He has a lot to say on a lot of topics, and while I don't agree with him on everything, I nevertheless think he's a brilliant thinker and observer of the human condition.

Hoffer is perhaps best known for his book "The True Believer," in which he discusses the dynamics of fanaticism and the development of mass movements, and explains the appeal of the MAGA movement. Another of his books, "The Passionate State of Mind," contains a passage that directly relates to our current miserable political/religious/social/economic mess:

"It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the fruits of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence."

The MAGA movement proves the accuracy of this observation every day. People who believe they have no voice in their government and no real power over their future feel weak and powerless, and seek both a scapegoat for their anger and someone they perceive as a strong leader who will do what they cannot do and say what they cannot say. They roar their approval, believing that the crude behavior, intolerance and suspicion given voice by Der Furor lets them "own the libs" and "stick it to the man." As Hoffer reminds us, 

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."

Eric Hoffer wrote his major works in the 1950s, but he would have understood the present time perfectly well.

Have a good day. Don't let yourself be corrupted, whether by power or by weakness. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* This is an update and revision of a post by the same title I published in 2012. Some things don't change.